While the host team's qualification for the quarter-finals
of China 2007 owes much to established stalwarts like Li Jie and
Xie Caixia - scorers of the goals that beat New Zealand on Thursday
- the contribution of two emerging talents is also worthy of
mention.
Midfielder Song Xiaoli, whose late strike snatched her side
victory over Denmark in China PR's opening Group D game, and
goalkeeper Zhang Yanru,
wholesale nba jerseys, who came into the side for the New Zealand
match, have done their reputations no harm during the past
fortnight.
In the case of Song, she became something of an overnight
sensation following her spectacular winner from long range against
Denmark. However, the path to success has been long and hard for
the 27-year-old from Jiangsu province, who is finally reaping the
rewards for over a decade of commitment and perseverance. As a
youngster, Song showed a keen interest in dance, fencing and
athletics before being introduced to football at the age of 11. Her
highly developed coordination skills soon became apparent to
football coach Yu Jianguo, who later recalled: "Song Xiaoli
might not be very tall but she's very nimble, besides being a
quick learner. If you teach her a new move, she picks it up in no
time at all."
Her continued progress led to a first international call-up in
2000. Despite struggling to establish herself in a senior team
dominated by such inspirational figures as Sun Wen and Liu Ailing,
Song was determined to prove herself at the highest level. Looking
back on that period,
wholesale soccer jerseys, she said: "At that time when we had
players like Sun Wen, I was probably one of the weakest members in
the squad. I went away and quietly worked on my game, and now those
seven years of hard effort have finally paid off." A second
chance eventually arrived in 2006 with a recall to the China squad
by then national coach Ma Liangxing for the Asian Games in
Doha.
Song is now keen to repay the faith put in her by current coach
Marika Domanski-Lyfors, who put her in the team for this FIFA
Women's World Cup. "I'm very grateful to the coach for
putting her trust in me," she said. "She's also the
one who gave me the opportunity to prove myself on the world stage
and for that reason I'll never forget her." Her
performances so far suggest Domanski-Lyfors is being rewarded for
her judgement and the battling midfielder, nicknamed
'Daredevil' for her fearless approach on the pitch, is
gaining attention not only for her football.
Her good looks have also invited attention and her winning
smile was clearly in evidence following her decisive intervention
in the 3-2 defeat of the Danes. "It's like a dream, I
never would have thought I could score such a spectacular goal, let
alone at the World Cup," she said afterwards. "I'm so
excited that I won't be able to sleep tonight!"
Fast track
If Song has taken a slow road to the top,
wholesale jerseys from china, her team-mate Zhang
is on the fast track. The 20-year-old goalkeeper replaced the more
experienced Han Wenxia for the New Zealand decider, following the
four goals the latter had conceded against Brazil.
Despite Zhang's tender age,
cheap wholesale jerseys, there is confidence in the China
camp that she can handle the pressure of the world stage following
previous impressive displays for her country. As early as 2004,
cheap nfl jerseys, the
1.82m goalkeeper was an instrumental figure in China's
qualification for the FIFA U-19 World Championship, notably with
her two penalty saves in the shoot-out victory over Korea DPR which
propelled her team to the finals. She impressed subsequently in the
final tournament in Thailand, where China finished runners-up.
Zhang looked equally assured at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in
July 2006 where she stopped two Australian penalties as the Steel
Roses won the final on penalties. She then took that form into the
FIFA U-20s Women's World Championship where she set a new
tournament record of 449 minutes without conceding a goal to help
China reach the final. Although they lost heavily to Korea DPR in
that final, going down 5-0, Zhang's efforts had already been
enough to earn the Silver Ball award for the tournament's
second best player behind her team-mate Ma Xiaoxu.
Following the installation as coach of Swede Domanski-Lyfors in
March,
buy cheap jerseys, Zhang was handed a starting berth in the China team during
the build-up to this month's finals. Although China went down
2-0 to USA in a warm-up match on 16 June, her composure and
shot-stopping ability earned rave reviews in the press. It may not
have been enough to earn her the nod for China's opening two
games but having stepped off the bench, she is now expected to
retain her place going into the knockout rounds, following a clean
sheet against New Zealand.
Asked about the likely challenge posed by Norway in Sunday's
quarter-final in Wuhan, the young keeper replied calmly:
"I'll take the next match as it comes, just as I did my
first match. I'm not thinking about it too much." With
this cool customer, it seems actions speak louder than words.
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